Solar cells and solar modules convert sunlight into electricity. These electronic devices have been traditionally fabricated using silicon (Si) as a light-absorbing, semiconducting material in a relatively expensive production process. To make solar cells more economically viable, solar cell device architectures have been developed that can inexpensively make use of thin-film, light-absorbing semiconductor materials such as copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) and the resulting devices are often referred to as CIGS solar cells.
A central challenge in cost-effectively constructing a large-area CIGS-based solar cell or module involves reducing processing costs and material costs. In known versions of CIGS solar cells, the transparent electrode layer and many other layers are deposited by a vacuum-based process over a rigid glass substrate. Typical deposition techniques include co-evaporation, sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, or the like. The nature of vacuum deposition processes requires equipment that is generally low throughput and expensive. Vacuum deposition processes are also typically carried out at high temperatures and for extended times. Traditional sputtering or co-evaporation techniques are limited to line-of-sight and limited-area sources, tending to result in poor surface coverage and non-uniform three-dimensional distribution of the elements.
Due to the aforementioned issues, improved techniques may be used for reducing processing costs and material costs. Improvements may be made to increase the throughput of existing manufacturing processes and decrease the cost associated with CIGS based solar devices. The decreased cost and increased production throughput should increase market penetration and commercial adoption of such products.